The Wisconsin Chapter for the Association of Gravestone Studies

A Reflection by Carlin Hastings The rain held out during the AGS-Wisconsin Chapter’s Spring Meeting on May 12th, creating the perfect weather for a cemetery tour—grey, but with the feeling summer was coming. The meeting was held in Janesville, a town of over 60,000 in southern Wisconsin. Oak Hill Cemetery is the main cemetery in … Continue reading Spring Meeting 2018

I am excited to announce our Spring Meeting! We will be gathering at the Oak Hill Chapel and Cemetery in Janesville, Wisconsin at Noon on May 12th. Richard Snyder will talk about the restoration of the chapel's stained glass and the community involvement in the project. I recommend checking out their facebook page for … Continue reading AGS-Wisconsin Spring Meeting 2018

Civil War Soldiers and Native American Mounds: A Reflection on Forest Hill Cemetery, Madison, Wisconsin By Sammy Kailas For the past 19 years, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison, Wisconsin has hosted “Talking Spirits Cemetery Tours” at Forest Hill Cemetery two miles southwest of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus during the autumn. Forest Hill … Continue reading Civil War Soldiers and Native American Mounds

A Reflection on the NCPTT Workshop Care for Historic Cemeteries Workshop in Janesville, WI, on September 23rd, 2017 by Sammy Kailas On an unusually hot September Saturday, I joined the Oak Hill Cemetery Preservation Society in Janesville, Wisconsin for a hands-on workshop on the Care of Historic Cemeteries offered by the National Center for Preservation … Continue reading NCPTT Care for Historic Cemeteries Workshop

I wrote this reflection while doing fieldwork for my MA thesis in Landscape Archaeology at the National University of Ireland-Galway. It was originally posted on my Tumblr in July of 2016. One thing I have struggled with over the last year is setting aside my disbelief to respect the beliefs of others. One of my … Continue reading I respect you and you believe in spirits

After visiting the Milwaukee Public Library in February and finding the newsletters from the Wisconsin State Old Cemetery Society, I was curious to take a look at their graveyard records at the Wisconsin State Historical Society in Madison. I finally made it over there in April and spent the day sifting through boxes and folders … Continue reading Archive Visit I

Good news everyone! The Wisconsin Chapter has officially been approved by the board during the Annual Meeting at the 2017 Conference in Tuscaloosa. Though I was unfortunately unable to make the first few days of the conference which ran from June 20th to June 24th, I did manage to swing attending the last day and … Continue reading AGS Conference, Tuscaloosa 2017

We will be meeting outside the office of the Forest Home Cemetery on April 22nd at 12:30pm for a guided walking tour led by historian Dr. Paul Haubrich. He will be guiding us through Milwaukee's history and the phases of symbolism that can be found in the historic cemetery. The cemetery is a classic garden-cemetery first … Continue reading Spring Meeting Announcement

At our last meeting, Robert Felber told us about the past work done by gravestone researchers in Wisconsin through the Wisconsin State Old Cemetery Society (WSOCS), which ran from the early 1970s to the mid-2000s. I spent a few hours at the Milwaukee Public Library last week and while they have many records relating to … Continue reading The WSOCS Newsletters at MPL